Our City

Quality of Life

While we have so much to be thankful for living on Miami Beach, we face our own unique challenges where our quality of life is under daily attack. Some issues can be quickly addressed with an email or phone call (I love these!), others require in-depth analysis and complex legislative solutions (I welcome the challenge!). Every day I am working together with our residents and City staff to make our City safer and a more enjoyable place to live. Below I will address the actions I and our City are taking to improve public safety, and address traffic and excessive noise.

Public Safety

Perhaps no issue is as complex and certainly none is as important as reducing and preventing crime. I have been relentlessly working on multiple legislative initiatives that our Commission voted in support to reduce crime. These legislative initiatives are transformational for how our City prosecutes crime and have already started to yield significant positive results.

Impact of Miami Beach's Municipal Prosecutions

In 2018, Miami Beach created a Municipal Prosecution position to prosecute criminal municipal violations, such as urinating or defecating in public. Of the 34 cities in Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach is the only City that opted to prosecute its own municipal violations. All felonies are handled by the State Attorney’s Office (SAO) as required by State law, and until recently Miami Beach had designated all other misdemeanor offenses to be handled by the SAO.

Late last year I asked our City Attorney for data on our prosecution record. I learned that from October 2020-September 2021, 383 of the 418 (92%) criminal municipal arrests made by our police were dismissed by our City prosecutor or the court. Stated another way, only 8% of the arrests made by our police for municipal crimes were successfully prosecuted in fiscal year 2021. This is not acceptable. Crime committed without fear of any consequences leads to more victims of crime and negatively impacts the safety of our residents.

In response, I proposed legislation in October 2021 passed by our Commission requiring our City Prosecutor to prosecute any case in which the defendant has a prior arrest anywhere in the United States or file an appeal if the court dismisses the case. We were not previously appealing court dismissals. This allowed judges to dismiss our cases without fear of being overturned by a higher court. This is no longer the case.

We have seen a dramatic turnaround in our level of prosecution, especially against repeat offenders, since my legislative initiative passed in October 2021. From October 13, 2021 (date legislation passed) through this week, 94 of the 128 cases (73%) have been successfully prosecuted by our municipal prosecutor!

Successful prosecution and conviction can lead to one of several outcomes such as jail time, probation, a fine or a pre-trial diversion program (rehabilitation). My legislation created a pre-trial diversion option offered by the non-profit Court Options at no cost to Miami Beach so we can help those in need, including the homeless, while at the same time reducing crime.

Prosecution and conviction have consequences under the law, especially when an offender has multiple convictions. An arrest followed by an immediate dismissal without prosecution carries little to no weight under the law, even when the individual is arrested numerous times. A pattern of arrest and immediate dismissal leaves victims without justice and leads to more victims. Consistent and appropriate prosecution like we are doing now sends a strong message that law and order will be enforced in Miami Beach.

A visible police presence proactively and fairly enforcing our laws, along with appropriate prosecution, deters and prevents crime.

The results speak for themselves:

Contrary to Miami Beach’s reduction in crime, violent crime increased more than 21% year over year in municipalities patrolled by the Miami-Dade Police Department, with all crime rising by more than 10% in these cities. (Miami Today, May 12, 2022.)

In January I proposed legislation passed by our Commission directing our City Prosecutors to assume responsibility from the State Attorney’s Office of three misdemeanor offenses; battery, indecent exposure, and criminal mischief (i.e., property damage under $1,000), so we could more effectively prosecute these cases. Bringing these misdemeanors under our City Prosecutors, as is our right under Florida law, will allow our City to vigorously prosecute these criminal offenses, particularly habitual offenders, so that significantly fewer cases are dismissed. (See memorandum https://bit.ly/3lrlC8u I drafted in support of this legislation.)

As part of the legislation passed by our Commission in recent months, we now assign a Police sergeant to attend bond hearings and certain court proceedings to advocate on the City’s behalf. We hired a justice advocate consultant to assist with our most egregious habitual criminal offender cases and we hired two additional City prosecutors. Our current three-person prosecution team is better positioned to handle the appropriate caseload.

But the work is far from done. I continue to actively explore other initiatives to continue improving public safety in Miami Beach.

Traffic

Traffic has become a nightmare and one of the biggest impediments to our quality of life. What are the solutions?

One issue I have worked on combating is unnecessary lane closures. Whether it’s FDOT, FPL or our own City contractor, I have witnessed too many occasions where traffic lanes are blocked - often during rush hour - contrary to agreements and policies and without proper notice to Miami Beach. I have been working with our City Manager and City Attorney to consider all enforcement options when agreements and policies are not followed. This negligence causes severe and unnecessary traffic delays all because workers did not want to be bothered to move cones out of the way.

I have advocated for several traffic study analyses to be conducted by Miami-Dade County to assist with traffic control. I have also recently brought a Commission agenda item that would direct our City to provide more resources, especially during high-impact periods, to prevent gridlock and ensure that our intersections remain clear of vehicular obstruction. Traffic is a difficult issue as often there are just too many cars, but I will continue my efforts to find effective and permanent solutions to alleviate traffic congestion in our City.

I have also brought a Commission item directing our City Manager to explore opportunities with Boring Company, Elon Musk’s company. Boring Company is currently exploring opportunities in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and other locations throughout the U.S. where underground tunnel loops would shuttle passengers at high speeds (i.e., 2.5 miles in 3 minutes). Whether this technology is feasible for Miami Beach remains to be determined but we should always be exploring the latest technological advances to improve our residents’ quality of life.

Sound Meter and Camera Technology

Another issue I hear persistently (literally and from our residents) is the noise disturbances across our City, including vehicles with loud muffler systems and blasting music. So far we have not been effective in curbing this behavior. What is the solution?

I recently brought to the Commission a proposed initiative to implement roadside sound meter camera technology to capture evidence of excessive noise emanating from vehicles in violation of our law. This technology has been activated in Paris and London. New York City currently has a pilot program underway. The sound meter and cameras are installed adjacent to the roadway and are activated when it detects noise emitted from the vehicle at a decibel level in excess of the law. A video is then captured of the vehicle's license plate number. Enforcement staff would then review the video and issue a ticket to the vehicle’s owner.

I am working with our City Attorney to determine the legality of this technology in Florida and with City staff on finalizing a proposed plan.

Mini Golf

Positive activations in South Beach such as the Super Bowl, Air and Sea Show, Veterans Day, and Formula One are great events for our residents and businesses, and leads to reduced crime. What if we could replicate these family-friendly positive activations on a daily basis?

This is exactly why I am proposing a high-end custom made mini golf course for Miami Beach along 5th - 7th streets, nestled between Ocean Drive/Lummus Park and the Beach in a location currently called the ‘spoil area.’ The spoil area is a sandy unused area not part of Lummus Park or the Beach and is essentially only used by the City to occasionally park City vehicles and for storage.

My mini golf initiative calls for a pilot program activation utilizing an Art Deco architecture / Beach themed outdoor 18-hole course. The course will be custom made to highlight the culture, history and energy of Miami Beach and Ocean Drive. To ensure that the design of the course will be befitting for Miami Beach, the final design is subject to Historic Preservation Board review.

The mini golf course will be built to the specifications of the Commission. Also, a private contractor will pay the cost of construction and the public will be charged to play the course. Final Commission approval is required and will likely be voted on in the next several months.

Sale of Public Land

Last year the City placed the public property located at 6175 Pine Tree Drive up for sale for private ownership and a winning bidder had been selected subject to Commission approval. Several months ago I brought an initiative to the Commission to convert this public land into a passive park instead of a sale to private owners. This led to several discussions at the Commission’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee (of which I am the Chair), as to the best use of this property and whether the City should proceed with a sale. At our May 4 Commission meeting, our Commission rejected the sale of this public property and will instead activate the land as a public park. Utilizing this land as a passive park was strongly supported by the surrounding neighborhood and the La Gorce Pine Tree Homeowners Association.

I continue to fight every day to improve and preserve the safety and quality of life of our residents. It is an honor and privilege to serve as your elected Commissioner.

Steven, Shanyn, Matisyahu & Michal Meiner

I had the pleasure of working together for two years with my former Commission aide Amadeus Huff who is relocating and starting an exciting new chapter in his life. Congratulations!

Robert Novo lll joined me as my Commission aide two months ago and if you have not met Robert yet please reach out and say hello.

If I can help in any way, or if you have any suggestions or concerns, please reach out to me.

My cell phone is 786-810-8728 and my direct City email is StevenMeiner@MiamiBeachFL.gov.

Alternatively, you can contact my aide Robert Novo lll at
786-697-7763 or by email at RobertNovo@MiamiBeachFL.gov.

We are here to help.

Thanks,
Steve

Posted on 20 May 2022, 01:29 - Category: 2022